Counting Down
by Kintatsu
Summary: Soul Timers were never meant to account for time travelers. MAY ADD MORE CHAPTERS IF I THINK OF THEM.
1. Chapter 1

When Hotaru was born, the Timer on her wrist displayed naught but a mess of ever-shifting lines. No one thought anything of it, as such was common when one's soulmate had yet to be born. As the years passed with no change, however, concern grew that perhaps she didn't have a soulmate.

\o/

When Hotaru was eight, her Timer became the last thing on anyone's mind.

\o/

When Hotaru was eleven, one stray glance at her wrist demanded a second; her wrist now displayed a countdown to a date one year and some months away. Hotaru grimaced; it seemed not only that her soulmate was _very_ young, but that she would meet them as such.

\o/

After a year, for approximately seven seconds, the time on her wrist changed to a date one millenium in the future, provoking a pained and concerned stare; it was all too possible her Timer was broken.

\o/

As the Timer wound down to twenty minutes, Hotaru seated herself on a park bench to read. As it reached the five-minute mark, she lost track of time. As it hit thirty seconds, the wind picked up, taking a wide-brimmed hat with it. At five seconds, she pinned the hat.

As the Timer blinked zero, Hotaru's gaze turned to meet guileless red eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** While others may have different interpretations, it always seemed apparent to me that Sailor Moon utilizes the "Dynamic Timeline" theory of time travel, wherein a time traveler starts changing outcomes the moment they travel back in time. This is why Pluto is not as omniscient as you'd expect.

\o/

The Small Lady was born with a Timer that was illegibly static-ridden, the mark of a soulmate long since dead. Upon seeing this, the Queen tried, and failed, to withhold tears.

\o/

As Usagi stared down the barrel of what turned out to be a toy gun, the last vestiges of static on the wielder's wrist cleared.

\o/

As the newly-dubbed Chibiusa doffed her shirt in anticipation of a bath, she caught sight of her Timer winding down to a date five years and some months hence. Her squeal of elation was audible throughout the house.

\o/

Upon her return to the future, Chibiusa was welcomed with smiles and open arms. Not until later, as she prepared for bed, would she notice her Timer once more displayed static.

\o/

Her second trip into the past, she made sure to wear short sleeves to watch her Timer. As she landed, she saw the static clear to reveal a countdown of only a few months. She smiled. She couldn't wait.

\o/

**Author's Note:** I'm thinking _at least_ one more chapter on this thing, now, plus some same-continuity stories for the other Senshi (and Mamoru).


	3. Chapter 3

"So, wait, your Timer tried to keep track of me when I went back to the future?"

"Yes, and it was _disturbing_. I thought it was broken!"

Chibiusa smiled apologetically, and nuzzled into Hotaru's shoulder. "I'm sorry I worried you."

Hotaru simply hugged her beloved friend (though that never seemed quite the right word), and thanked every relevant deity she knew that her destined was real, and _not_ a toddler when they met. But that was a concern for another time.

\o/

As Usagi told her what she knew about Hotaru's fate, Chibiusa stole a glance at her wrist, and her eyes widened. She beheld, impossibly, a new countdown, to a date less than two weeks away.

\o/

When Chibiusa returned to the future for what _should_ have been the last time, her Timer's display flickered chaotically between a blessed series of zeroes, and impenetrable static, just as she teetered between existence and the void. _Something_ was happening in the past to make her present uncertain, and she'd be _damned_ if she didn't turn the outcome in her favor. She would not adhere to a policy of noninterference at the price of oblivion.

\o/

"Your Timer's been showing static every time you've gone back?"

Chibiusa scratched at her cheek and replied, "Well, not _every_ time? Last time it kept jumping between static and zeroes." She perked up. "Hey, maybe I'll be able to find you there, this time! Now that the biggest bad in the galaxy's been put down, you might survive!"

Hotaru smiled wryly. "Chibiusa... a thousand years without you isn't exactly a comforting prospect."

Chibiusa blinked at that, then donned the fierce look of one determined to change fate. "Then I guess I'll have to make sure you don't _go_ without me." She grinned, and continued, "Even prisons allow conjugal visits, right?"

Hotaru choked, blushed, and sputtered, "_Chibiusa!_"

The aforementioned just laughed.

\o/

Author's note: I like happy endings (though a bittersweet one does in a pinch). Also, I've decided: each pairing gets its own work, as part of a series.


End file.
